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<\/a>Visiting the competition! Hotel Su in Bodrum.<\/p><\/div>\n
Hotel Su<\/a>\u00a0was fantastic. They’re a bit bigger than we’re ever planning to be, and they have about a 20-year head start on us, but it was interesting to see how other people do things and to note down ideas for later shameless copying. Particularly great work by them on the garden (and bar) arranged around the central courtyard. The staff and the owners were extremely nice and we can happily recommend the place if anyone is heading to Bodrum before or after staying with us.<\/p>\n Lovely architectural details at Hotel Su.<\/p><\/div>\n Bodrum (formerly Halicarnassus) is always fun. It’s very much centred around the harbour, with lots of good restaurants along the shore. If you were thinking of chartering a boat for an Aegean cruise it’s definitely the place to go.<\/p>\n G\u00fclets (Turkish yachts) moored on the quayside in Bodrum.<\/p><\/div>\n More boats in the harbour.<\/p><\/div>\n Back in\u00a0H?d?rbeyli we had some drama. We were out by the pool one night when we saw flames on the opposite hillside: there was a fire in somebody’s olive grove. I think we were the first to call the emergency services as we had a clear view of what was happening. The fire looked really bad for a while, and we thought it was going to spread along the hillside and possibly threaten some houses. Very impressed though when the fire brigade arrived in seven minutes and had the fire under control shortly afterwards.<\/p>\n Fire on the other side of the village.<\/p><\/div>\n Fire now under control: that’s the fire brigade, top left. Remains of the fire smouldering on the left edge of the frame.<\/p><\/div>\n Surprise, surprise: the cats were completely unimpressed by the fire. Here are a few shots of them relaxing on the pool terrace that same evening.<\/p>\n Panini reclining.<\/p><\/div>\n Pablo, who we don’t see enough of because he is shy.<\/p><\/div>\n Cezmi inspecting his pool.<\/p><\/div>\n So, golf has never really been my cup of tea, but I realize it’s a big deal for some people. We’ve known for a while there was a serious golf course<\/a> over in the hills near\u00a0Ku?adas? but hadn’t found an excuse to visit. More than one guest has mentioned that we should list the place on our\u00a0 “Local attractions”<\/a> page, and I really should.<\/p>\n Ku?adas? International Golf Club.<\/p><\/div>\n Anyway, we drove over there as my dad wanted to see their accommodation options in the event that a future trip with some Australian friends turns into too many people for our place. I can’t tell you whether it’s a great golf course, but the views were very nice.<\/p>\n View from the club house looking west towards Samos.<\/p><\/div>\n We did do some<\/em> construction work this month, of course. Room three is getting really close to habitability now: all the window frames are in and the tiles are down in the main room and in the bathroom. Only some grouting to go.<\/p>\n Room 3 has floor tiles now.<\/p><\/div>\n Bathroom tiles looking OK.<\/p><\/div>\n Thanks to Sirem’s sister \u00c7isem, all 48\u00a0 six-metre rafters for our new house have been sanded and are ready for mounting. But four of them were a bit of a mess: they had twisted when drying and looked more like bananas than nice straight pieces of wood. So we tried an old carpentry trick and put them in the pool for a week. (Don’t tell any guests, eh?) Unbelievably it actually worked, and we have nailed and strapped them together so that this time they should dry straight.<\/p>\n Rafters for the house being straightened.<\/p><\/div>\n And the last piece of news: we know we really don’t need any more animals, but we found a very beautiful and sweet puppy abandoned on the side of the road below our place. We normally try to do the sensible thing and take animals to the local shelter (where they’re vaccinated and spayed and eventually released if no-one adopts them). But this time we looked into the eyes of little Nina and we just couldn’t do it. Maybe the photos will explain why.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>